US health expenditure per capitaTwitch average concurrent viewers
Between 2017 and 2022 the average American spent more on healthcare each year and the average Twitch stream drew more simultaneous viewers each year, and the two numbers have climbed together (r = 0.959) with an insistent bipartisanship that suggests they are both answering the same prayer. One expenditure keeps the body alive; one expenditure keeps the afternoon alive. Both, it turns out, are not getting cheaper.
US health expenditure per capita rose from about $10,700 in 2017 to over $13,500 by 2022, driven by hospital consolidation, prescription drug prices, and the long tail of pandemic care; Twitch's concurrent viewers climbed from about 1 million to over 2.5 million, riding the streamer economy, esports, and the now-normal sight of a seven-hour cooking livestream during breakfast. The connection is the strange shared buyer: the American employer who underwrites health insurance also, for the 18-34 cohort in the household, underwrites the high-speed internet that hosts the stream. Both line items expand faster than wages.
The hospital charges. The stream plays. Attention and attention-to-vitals both cost more every year.
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